Northern California! In my mind, it belongs in the top 5 regions of the world! Not that I have been all over the world mind you, but I just get this feeling it is in the top 5 somewhere. San Francisco, Napa Valley, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe to name just a few! WOW. It really is a paradise for a person who loves nature and the outdoors! Anyways… I do a lot of cycling, running, open water swimming, and in the winter cross-country skiing in the Sierra Nevada. All this activity has led to a love of triathlon. What is great is… I have friends who specialize in each of one of these disciplines and I train with them and later put them all together. I have a good buddy from San Francisco who I have known all my life. He is an extremely talented and dedicated cyclist. A great training partner…. but also a very scary and unpredictable training partner. I have been on, no question, the toughest bike rides of my life with this friend. Mt. Diablo, Howell Mountain Road, Mt. Tam, Sierra Road (see what Lance Armstrong said about Sierra road)…. all epic ascents in Nor Cal. But today, I will tell you about The DEVILS CANYON!! This is a ride that is literally 2 hours up and 2 hours down. This gorgeous ride takes you under and over California’s tallest bridge, Foresthill Bridge, and along one of the most scenic rivers in the United States, the American River. Please take a look at our statistics and you will get an idea of this ride terrain:

I had never ridden this ride before and am always a bit leery where my friend is leading us. Past experiences tell me I KNOW it will not be pleasant. At about midride, we began a steep descent into a dark wooded gorge where we approached speeds up to 40 mph. While we descended, I thought to myself, what in the hell is he getting us into now? As the saying goes… what goes down must COME UP! We finally reach the bottom and lo and behold what do we see? A sign of rednecks in the area: A bulletpocked road sign that reads DEVILS CANYON. Oh man. We have one hell of a ride UP now. Thanks Joe.